A Loss (Sabathia, for the Season) Before a Win for the Yankees

The news that C. C. Sabathia would have knee surgery and miss the rest of the season was hardly stunning: He experienced pain and swelling the day after pitching for Class AA Trenton on July 2 and was shut down, making surgery the most likely course of action.

Still, General Manager Brian Cashman’s formal announcement of the decision Friday afternoon made for a sobering start to the second phase of the Yankees’ already frustrating season.

“It’s horrible,” catcher Brian McCann said. “He’s a horse. He’s a top-of-the-rotation guy, and he’s been that way his whole career. Hopefully he can recover and be back as soon as possible.”

The Yankees’ rotation is already missing Ivan Nova, who had Tommy John surgery in April, and Masahiro Tanaka, who has a small tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is still in pain, increasing the possibility that he, too, may need a Tommy John procedure in the coming weeks.

With that kind of firepower on the shelf, the Yankees are searching for a trade partner to acquire another arm. In the meantime, they have relied on young pitchers to fill the void, and on Friday, they got another encouraging performance.

Just hours after the announcement about Sabathia, David Phelps, making his 14th start since being thrust into the rotation, helped the Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3, at Yankee Stadium in their return from the All-Star break. He allowed three runs — two of them earned, with Brayan Pena hitting two bases-empty home runs — over six and a third innings and improved his record to 4-4.

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C. C. Sabathia, who last pitched on May 10, will have an arthroscopic debridement next week to clean out his knee.CreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

Also stepping to the fore was the Yankees’ offense, which, with a two-run homer by Jacoby Ellsbury in the fifth inning, supplied enough power to make Phelps’s performance stand. The home run, off Reds starter Mike Leake, was Ellsbury’s seventh of the season.

Derek Jeter added two hits and scored twice; Carlos Beltran, coming off the seven-day concussion list, had two hits and a run batted in; and McCann knocked in a run with a double in the first inning. McCann now has 16 hits in his last 45 at-bats, an 11-game stretch that has included three doubles, a home run and four R.B.I.

The victory was perhaps most significant because it raised the Yankees’ home record to 19-23. Although that is still one of the worst home marks in the American League, the win was an important sign of progress for the Yankees given that 39 of the team’s 67 remaining games are set to be played at Yankee Stadium.

“We better play better at home,” Manager Joe Girardi said before the game. “Either that or go undefeated on the road — one or the other.”

Whatever they do, they will have to do it without Sabathia, who Cashman said would have an arthroscopic debridement next week to clean out his right knee, leaving his pitching future in doubt.

The hope is that Sabathia, whose production has declined over the past two seasons, will be ready for spring training in February, but the Yankees’ hopes have already been dashed once in this process, making it difficult to expect success. But, Cashman said, “given the number of things that have gone on with him, we will be careful nonetheless.”

The Yankees are also being careful with Tanaka, who started this year, his rookie season, by going 12-4 with a 2.51 earned run average. Tanaka was found to have the ligament tear last week, and doctors recommended that he pursue a rehabilitation plan that could allow him to avoid Tommy John surgery.

Tanaka, who cannot begin throwing again until he is pain free, said Friday, shortly before Cashman spoke, that he was still feeling discomfort in the elbow and that he could not say for certain that he would be able to pitch again this year.

“So I just have to stick with the rehab program and see what happens,” he said through an interpreter.

Sabathia felt discomfort during his last start with the Yankees, on May 10, and woke up the next day with swelling in his knee. Often, the main course of treatment for a degenerative knee condition is debridement, in which the loose cartilage causing inflammation and pain is removed. But over time more particles can loosen in the joint, and that can necessitate further procedures.

Sabathia initially tried to heal the knee through rehabilitation and a stem-cell treatment, but he experienced more pain and swelling after his July 2 outing. On Friday he saw Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ team physician, and decided to have the debridement. ElAttrache is set to perform the procedure on Wednesday.

If he does not recover as expected, Sabathia may elect to have microfracture surgery. But that kind of operation has produced mixed results in athletes.

“It’s one of those things you don’t want to mess with if you can avoid it,” Cashman said.

INSIDE PITCH

The Yankees announced they would honor Derek Jeter, who has said this season will be his last, on Sept. 7 at Yankee Stadium. Jeter started his 2,610th game at shortstop Friday, passing Omar Vizquel for the most games started at that position. Jeter has never played another position in the field.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D3 of the New York edition with the headline: A Loss (Sabathia, for the Season) Before a Win for the Yankees. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe